From the Camp Devotion Deck

“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us, but if we confess our sin, God who is faithful and just will forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

-1 John 1:8&9

Most merciful Father,
We confess that we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves. We have sinned against you in thought, word and deed, by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole hearts. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ, have mercy on us. Forgive us, renew us and lead us, so that we may delight in Your will, and walk in Your ways, to the glory of Your holy name. Amen.

–Prayer of confession from the Lutheran Book of Worship

Upon hearing the above verse read yesterday, my brain automatically filled in the prayer that follows because that was just the order of things in my childhood church. As a kid the phrase “delight in Your will” could have meant “the mouse flies overhead” for all I knew. It wasn’t something that resonated with anything in my short life, and I never puzzled over its meaning, I just read it and moved on to the next hymn in the bulletin. As an adult the thought of delighting in His good, pleasing and perfect will thrills me. Confession: I am often too stubbornly independent, and insist on struggling through decisions and navigating on my own. This prayer still breathes in my memory, and now reminds me to not just seek and pursue, but to delight in His will for me.